Looking for a little clarity in a messed-up, pandemic-elongated awards season? Nominees for the Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced Thursday, and these prizes, handed out by the Hollywood actors’ guild SAG-Aftra, may provide the best look yet at the contenders with the strongest shots at making the Oscars’ final five.

Unlike the weird and wacky Golden Globes, which are voted on by a small group of eccentric foreign journalists, the actors’ guild is more comparable to the academy in its size and membership. Over the last three years, every SAG winner has gone on to win the Oscar, too, so when it comes to awards-season bellwethers, few shows ring louder and truer. (Sorry to Sia’s Golden Globe nominee “Music”: That means your 24-hour reign of confusion has come to a close.)

This year’s SAG lineup brings excellent tidings for “Minari,” a Korean-American family drama that missed major recognition at precursors like the Globes and the Gotham Awards. SAG gave the film three big nominations, recognizing the film’s ensemble cast as well as lead actor, Steven Yeun, and supporting actress Youn Yuh-jung.

Another film that saw its fortunes rise was the critically derided “Hillbilly Elegy”: Though the Ron Howard-directed drama failed to make the best-cast category, Amy Adams and Glenn Close scored individual nominations over strong competition.

In a rebuke to the Golden Globes, where the best-drama lineup was composed of films with majority-white casts, four of the five nominees for the SAGs’ top prize, best cast — “Minari,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Da 5 Bloods,” and “One Night in Miami” — were made up mainly of people of color, with Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” taking the fifth spot.

What does this mean for contenders like “Nomadland” and “The Father,” which are presumed to be real Oscar threats for best picture but were left out of the SAGs’ top category, even as their actors earned individual nominations? There’s no cause for alarm just yet: SAG voters tend to favor large ensemble casts with multiple people sharing scenes, and more intimate movies often fail to make the best-cast lineup.

Still, there were some notable snubs and surprises in the individual acting categories. Though “Da 5 Bloods” earned a best-cast nod and a supporting-actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman, the film’s powerhouse lead, Delroy Lindo, was shut out once again. Meanwhile, “Mank” standout Amanda Seyfried and the “Pieces of a Woman” star Ellen Burstyn were left off the supporting-actress lineup, and “The Little Things” star Jared Leto sneaked into the supporting-actor final-five over far worthier competition, like the snubbed Paul Raci from “Sound of Metal.”

The SAG Awards show will be held April 4, and the ceremony itself may provide further hints about this awards season’s ultimate conclusion: Last year’s surprise best-cast win for “Parasite” was a crucial pit stop on the way to that film’s historic best-picture victory at the Oscars.

Here are the nominations in the top movie categories:

Outstanding Cast

“Da 5 Bloods”

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

“Minari”

“One Night in Miami”

“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”

Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”

Gary Oldman, “Mank”

Steven Yeun, “Minari”

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Amy Adams, “Hillbilly Elegy”

Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”

Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”

Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Chadwick Boseman, “Da 5 Bloods”

Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Jared Leto, “The Little Things”

Leslie Odom Jr., “One Night in Miami”

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”

Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”

Olivia Colman, “The Father”

Youn Yuh-jung, “Minari”

Helena Zengel, “News of the World”

For a complete list of nominations, including the television categories, go to sagawards.org.